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Bounds Insurance
THE BUSINESS OF
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Family focus remains strong at Bounds Insurance
Family Roots Span Three Centuries in Shelby County
STORY AND PHOTOS BY MIKE ELSWICK
Strong family ties have been the focal point of Bounds Insurance since its founding in 1965 by Morris Bounds.
Morris was the father of current owner, Walter “Buster” Bounds, and grandfather of the third generation now involved in the business, Alison Bounds Scull.
But the family’s roots in Shelby County cover three centuries, from the mid-1850s, with the establishment of a family homestead between Shelbyville and Neuville and a grandfather who was born there in 1874.
Today the agency is operated by Buster, with Alison joining the business about six years ago.
Morris Bounds entered the insurance business while working as service manager for the former Lundsford Buick dealership when General Motors offered dealerships incentives to expand their business beyond the sales and service of automobiles.
Morris got sick and passed away a couple of years later when his wife, Johyne, took over the insurance business, Buster said. “She was a nurse and just did it out of courtesy, kindness and love for my father,” he said. “She doubled or tripled the agency in the process.”
While the insurance business may have been new for Johyne, Alison said her grandmother gave it her all. “She was a real go-getter,” Alison said. The agency flourished under Johyne’s leadership, but she eventually reached a point she was ready to slow down.
In the intervening years, the couple’s son, Buster, had earned his bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry from Stephen F. Austin State University. In the summer of 1967, he ended up on a summer job on a pipeline in Iowa when an ad in the Des Moines Register seeking a chemistry teacher for a school district in Illinois caught his eye.
“I was teaching chemistry at Ottawa Township High School (Ill.),” he said. That was where he both met his future wife, Carolyn, and where he received a phone call from his mother back in Center in 1971.
“She said I’ve gone as far as I can go, I’m not doing this anymore,” Buster recalled his mother’s statement. She offered to sell the insurance business to Buster and his two older sisters, if they were interested. They were, and the family’s link to serving others in the insurance business for decades to come was set in motion.
“Carolyn agreed and we came home and started in partnership with my sisters,” he said. He eventually bought out his sisters’ interest in the business as it continued to thrive. Over the years, as other local insurance agencies became available for acquisition, Buster saw opportunity and took them on.
As the business continued to grow, Buster moved the agency from Wheeler Street to its current location on the downtown Center square at the intersection of Nacogdoches and Austin streets in 1980.
AT A GLANCE
WHAT:
Bounds Insurance Agency, offering a variety of insurance and risk management services to clients locally and across Texas
WHO:
Owned by Walter “Buster” Bounds; assisted by Alison Bounds Scull, Zettie Dean and Carolyn Lamb
WHERE:
One West Austin Street, Center, Texas 75935
WHEN:
Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-12 p.m., and 1 p.m.-4:30 p.m.
PHONE:
(936) 598-2421
FYI:
The Bounds family has Shelby County roots dating back to the mid-1800s
Walter “Buster” Bounds and his daughter Alison Bounds Scull are now operating Bounds Insurance.
Carolyn Bounds, Alison Bounds, Laura Bounds, Buster Bounds
Buster took on work in the risk management end of the business, other areas of specialization and in the workers’ compensation arena.
He shifted his role in the business world to become a risk manager for the city, the local school district, and other entities on a fee-for-service basis. That allowed him to see addressing risk from the client’s point of view.
Following in her mother’s footsteps seeking a career as an educator, Alison headed to Baylor University upon graduating from Center High School. She had no intention of working in the family business.
Armed with her degree in elementary education, Alison took a job with schools in the Highland Park area of Dallas before eventually returning to teach in Center ISD. She took a few years off from teaching to take on the role of fulltime mother for the children she and husband, Terry Scull, had.
The couple who were high school sweethearts, met again after graduating college and starting careers. They married in the summer of 1997. Alison had taught in Center the previous year and Terry was working for the Tom Hicks organization as an IT manager.
They returned to Shelby County to pave the way for Terry joining his family’s business, Scull Timber in 2000.
“We both felt this is a good place to raise a family,” Alison said.
These days, a big part of Alison’s time with the firm is spent on the workers’ comp end of the business which was started more than 30 years ago by her father.
“We work with agents all across Texas for government entities like schools, cities, water districts, counties, appraisal districts and colleges,” she said. While Bounds Insurance is based in Center and East Texas, the firm works with about 25 Texas agents spread across the state to address the workers’ comp needs of clients.
Bounds Insurance works with more than 70 public entity clients in the state.
As she continues to learn the business, Alison said she and the staff remain grounded locally with the firm’s roots and a family focus.
“The most rewarding aspect for me is being able to work with my dad,” she said. Alison said lessons she has learned from her parents about giving back are instilled with her and the business institution.
“It’s hard to escape the relationship with the community,” Buster said. “If you are going to live in Center, you’re going to be part of a church and be part of the chamber. It’s just unbelievable how deeply you can get involved.”
On a broader scale, he has been involved in numerous professional organizations at the state level and served on the Texas Dental Board for several years.
Alison said the role models set by her parents continue to serve the business and her in positive ways.
“I don’t know any other way, my parents were always involved,” she said.
About six years ago Buster started thinking about selling the insurance business to focus attention on his passion for photography and videography, Alison said.
“Dad was thinking about selling and I shifted gears and climbed on board,” she said. While being an educator is a lot different from entering the world of business in the insurance agency, Alison said there are some strong similarities which she and her father have in common.
“We both share the love of helping people,” she said. Alison said she feels fortunate to be the third generation to continue the Bounds legacy in the business.
August 15 this year will represent Buster’s 50th anniversary with Bounds Insurance, while the business itself celebrated 50 years of service in 2016. One of the key elements to the firm’s success and growth over the decades has been longtime and dedicated staffers, Zettie Dean and Carolyn Lamb.
“We could not do it without them,” Buster said. Zettie has been with the firm 45 years, starting when she was 16 and was the reigning Texas State High School Typewriting Champion. Carolyn started with the agency in 1996 after Bounds acquired her agency, Ramsey Insurance Agency. She has more than 50 years insurance experience.
Each person has their own area of expertise and they work well together as a team, Alison said. While many areas of the insurance business have grown and become more impersonal with the internet, computers, and telecommunications, she feels the personal touch still has a strong role to play.
Hopefully, that will be the case well into the future, Alison said. As the firm’s transition continues from one generation to another, she anticipates no big changes as the same high level of personalized customer service remains at the forefront at Bounds Insurance.
“It’s that touch of familiar service with someone who cares that I feel strongly must remain,” she said.
